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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JULY 29, 1983
PAGE 9
Despite President Reagan's assertion that he has no plans for direct
military intervention in the region, the likelihood of just such an occur
rence has been greatly increased. This is due primarily to the growing U.S.
presence in Honduras. This country, bordering on both Nicaragua and El
Salvador, is becoming the U.S. "nerve center" in Central America.
A new base in that country trains, under U.S. advisers, Salvadoran govern
ment troops. The CIA, with more than 150 "operatives," runs the affairs of
5,000 anti-Sandinista "contra" rebels along Honduras' frontier with Nicara
gua. A radar base near the capital of Tegucigalpa monitors all air traffic
and guides secret reconnaissance flights over the region. Runways are
being enlarged to accommodate the huge C-5A transports which can carry 345
U.S. troops each. Construction will soon begin on a $150 million air and
naval base on the country's Atlantic Coast (Cam Rahn East?). A high U.S.
national security official was quoted as saying: "We have developed a pro
gram for a significant and long-lasting increase in the U.S. military pres
ence in Central America." --
Honduran government officials are generally supportive of these moves.
Their country's impoverished economy (poorest in the hemisphere after that
of Haiti) gets a shot in the arm, plus its fledgling democracy gets "big
brother" help in its ideological fight against the Marxists next door.
Meanwhile, U.S. pressure against Nicaragua is pushing that coµntry increas
ingly into the arms of Moscow and Havana. The latter two are stepping up
support to make sure that the revolution in Nicaragua doesn't fail.
War between Nicaragua and Honduras is therefore a greater likelihood thap
ever--with the U.S. possibly dragged into it. As NEWSWEEK in its August 1
edition said:
"The••.danger was that Honduras would drift into war with
Nicaragua--pulling the United States right along with it."
Mark August 1 on Your Calendarsl
Perhaps the most significant development of all is the fact that the new
U.S. "ground exercises" in Honduras begin on Monday, August _!, wit� the
arrival of an initial military survey team. There will be a continual
buildup afterwards until the number of troops reaches about 4,000 by mid
November. (The troops will, initially at least, be rotated in on three week
tours of duty, with the total number kept at the 4,000 level.)
Are we thus seeing the beginning of a new political time sequence we specu
lated about in this column, back on January 21, 1983? To refresh your
memory:
On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 "Superfortress" dropped the
atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Japan's fate was sealed.
The U.S. was the uncontested number one world power. Despite a soon-coming
stalemate in Korea, the U.S. still had pride in its power. But that was not
to last.
On August 5, 1964, 19 years after Hiroshima, almost to the day, the U.S.
Congress overwhelmingly approved, at President Lyndon B. Johnson's request,
the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The resolution, in response to attack by North
Vietnamese naval craft on U.S. vessels, authorized the President to "take
all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against forces of the
United States and to prevent further aggression." The way was paved for
America's ultimately disastrous full-scale military involvement in South
east Asia. The United States left the fight after "peace" was supposedly